Monmouth football voted fifth in Big South preseason poll

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Monmouth University football team's entrance into the Big South this fall signifies the program's ascension into big-boy FCS football, and the conference's preseason poll is a reflection of that.

The Hawks were selected fifth out of six teams when the annual preseason poll was released on Thursday afternoon as part of Big South Media Day. Monmouth received a total of 32 points in the weighted voting system, five ahead of sixth-place Presbyterian.

The poll was voted on by the league's six head coaches and a panel of media members.

Two-time defending co-Big South champion Coastal Carolina, an FCS quarterfinalist in 2013, was the clear favorite to win the Big South with 104 points, including 14 of 18 first-place votes.

The Big South champion receives the league's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. The Chanticleers and Liberty each finished 4-1 in Big South-play in 2013. Coastal owned the tiebreaker and advanced to the postseason thanks to a 55-52 double-overtime road victory over the Flames on Oct. 19.

The Flames received the remaining four first-place votes and were picked to finish second with 92 points, while Charleston Southern (third, 65) and Gardner-Webb (fourth, 58) rounded out the poll.

No Monmouth players were voted on to the Big South Preseason All-Conference Team, which is headlined by Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Alex Ross, a redshirt junior quarterback from Coastal Carolina, and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Quinn Backus, a senior linebacker also from the Chanticleers.

Ross is one of 20 preseason candidates up for the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the nation's top FCS offensive player. Backus is a preseason All-American and a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is given to the nation's top FCS defensive player.